As I was reading the Friday Eagle, I had to turn back to the front page, I thought for a second I was reading the Onion, a humorist paper of satire.

In Steve Drazkowski’s column “Sell some land, build our roads,” the representative proposes selling 6 percent of our public land to build roads. This tops the list as the most moronic proposal from a statesman I have ever heard.

Minnesota’s wealth is from our abundant state forests and public lands.

As stated from the Department of Natural Resources Web page, “Minnesota’s state forests were established to produce timber, provide outdoor recreation, protect watersheds, and perpetuate rare and distinctive species of native flora and fauna. State forests are sustainably managed to ensure they remain healthy, vital, and productive for the present and for future generations.”

I am wondering which of the areas listed above, (Drazkowski has incorrectly stated as 1.5 million, the DNR Web page list it as 4 million state forest acres) he wants to sell, because if he cuts our state forest land we are cutting all of the areas listed.

According to his numbers, he wants to sell one- third of all state forests. If he would like to sell some land for the state, I encourage to start with his own.

What is next, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for sale? Sounds like another page of satire. The BWCA is a million acres; maybe we could sell half of it or 500,000 acres to build roads. The Superior State Forest surrounds it with another million acres. This boundary waters area is known around the world as a statement of Minnesota’s ideals and values.

As Republicans tout values as supreme, they ought to realize what is a value and what isn’t.
--Dag Riseng, Lake City